Janaa
by MarisMartis
Summary: Gantu has his reasons to work for Hamsterviel, and its name is Janaa. Helpless to do anything about it in his exile, he can only try. At least until 625 finds out. No pairings!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** : So I was just messing around and I thought it might be interesting to explore the story if Gantu had a more clear reason for working for Hamsterviel, when in the first movie he was, actually, just trying to do his job (just going about it in an extreme way) and was, at his core, someone who values justice and the law. And this popped into my head.

 **Summary** : Gantu has his reasons to work for Hamsterviel, and its name is Janaa. Helpless to do anything about it in his exile, he can only try. At least until 625 finds out.

* * *

It starts the way it always does.

It's almost jarring, as the Shaelek finds himself standing in a familiar living room. There's only one picture on the wall- himself and a younger woman, his oddly aloof sister raised by their mother- as it replays the scene recorded that evening when he was accepted to the Academy, and the couch is set against the wall beneath it, a chair caddycorner next to it. It's very domestic, the projected-surface walls playing a familiar movie across from the couch.

In his arms is a being so small that, looking at the large creature, someone might have missed it.

The child peers around curiously at her surroundings- so much larger than the rabbit-like girl would ever grow up to be, perhaps somewhat intimidating, and a memory of thought rings in his head, how he should get furniture more suited for a little Xeronna such as her.

"Welcome home, Janaa," he says to the child, going to set her down.

Quietly he screams, but he can't voice it.

He knows it's not real.

He never wants to let go.

Her feet touch the cold floor, her little claws clicking against the metal, and he can only watch as she darts off to explore her surroundings.

It always goes the same. He watches her explore, and then he turns around to find the scene has changed. More video-pictures line the walls, the holo-vision has switched walls as a picture of him and his Janaa is front and center of the room. A warm, soft rug has been laid out on the floor where the small child draws, her third eye blissfully closed- a clear sign of comfort, so unlike the first time he had seen her, the first time he had saved her. There is a small chair beside the couch, though it often went unused as the child often climbed up to sit with him, instead.

It's bright, and he's holding a plate of _ganarin._ "Janaa," he hears himself call, his deep voice full of excitement. "Look- I believe I have it this time."

And he sets the plate down, his little Janaa snagging one of them without hesitance as she always did- and she takes a confident bite, as she always did, and she beamed up at him, joy lighting up her little eyes- not like it always did. "Yes!" she laughs, reaching for another one but he easily lifts it out of her reach.

"You'll spoil your dinner," he scolds surprisingly gently, more gently than any of his coworkers would ever expect of the captain of the galactic armada.

Janaa pouts up at him, "But dad..."

How can he resist? "Well, perhaps just one more," he gives in, and as he hands her just one more _ganarin_ he feels the world shift around him.

Now his sister stands before him, Janaa gazing up at him sadly. It was not the first parting they would have and it would not be the last, he knows as he kneels down to his daughter.

"I will only be gone for three weeks," he promises, and somewhere deep inside him a voice calls him a liar- because he's gone for seven weeks, more than twice as long as he promised her, and every day he thinks of the child waiting in his sister's care, waiting for him to return, yet being strong for his crew, not showing one ounce of weakness.

When he was deployed, he was not dad. He was Captain Gantu. And he has to remember that.

Then he's home, and Janaa is there hugging him- too young to care, yet, that he was gone longer than he promised. His sister was disappointed, but that didn't matter- his Janaa was just happy to have her father back home, and Gantu was more than happy to be _dad_ again.

Yet it was never meant to last. The dream passes, faster than he can keep up with, and his trepidation grows with every memory that flashes through his dreamscape, until the dreaded last trip begins.

He promises her he will be back in one week- it was just a bust, a bust and arrest. A court case, and a transport. Then he would be home, he'd be home and they could go to the new park opening up, he'd be home for her enrollment in school as she was finally old enough. An alternative school, for non-Shaeleks to reduce the risk of her being stepped on, a school Gantu's own father would have scoffed at.

Gantu never put much stock into his father's opinions.

She hugs him one last time, and had he known it would be the last he would never have let go. But Gantu can't stop himself from gently patting her head and sending her to stand with her aunt, can't stop himself from walking out that door.

The world around him seems to go dark. In the darkness he only hears two voices.

" _What about Janaa?"_ he asks, a defeated man, as he looks at his video phone where the Grand Councilwoman- someone he had trusted, someone who turned her back on him for doing what it took to retrieve a dangerous criminal, how was _he_ supposed to know the situation had changed? He only did as _she_ told him, yet he was the one punished for it, and the anger, resentment, betrayal wells up in his chest until it's a black hole, swirling and ripping at his soul- looks back at him, her eyes cold and face severe.

" _Janaa will be taken care of,"_ she assures him, no warmth or care for her old friend in her voice. " _Your sister has agreed to take on full responsibility until your exile is over."_

" _Please,"_ he almost begs, almost shows his weakness, " _If you will not let me go back at least let Janaa come to me."_

" _No,"_ is the simple answer before the screen goes black, leaving him in darkness.

He wants to scream as everything falls apart. As Hamsterviel's voice echoes around him, laughing.

" _I may not be captain but I refuse to work for scum like you,"_ Gantu had spat, he remembers it clearly.

" _I had a feeling you would say that,"_ the gerbil-like villain had answered, still in nothing but darkness. But Gantu doesn't need to see. He remembers well what came next. The way the screen turned, the way his Janaa sat in that cell, third eye open and tears on her face.

He remembers how she screamed for him to help her- how helpless he felt, as all he could do was call out to her with comforting words.

" _If you reject my proposal,"_ Hamsterviel continues, his voice coming ever closer to Gantu even as his child cries for help, " _Then your precious_ Janaa _shall be jettisoned into the deep dark vacuum of space!"_

And Gantu looks at Hamsterviel, and he knows it is not a lie.

He looks at Hamsterviel, seeing the monster for what he is.

And for the sake of his daughter- for the sake of his Janaa- he hangs his head and agrees.

He knows each and every time he fails, his Janaa is punished in his place.

And he's helpless.

When he wakes up, Hamsterviel's victorious laughter and Janaa's terrified crying ringing in his mind, he sits there and wonders if he'll ever see her again.

In the privacy of his room, in the quiet darkness of his exile, he cries.


	2. Chapter 2

625, munching on a tuna melt, watches Gantu pace around the ship following his failure to capture the monster of the week, as 625 had taken to calling them.

Gantu is obviously stressed. 625 doesn't feel particularly one way or another, nor does he really care about Gantu's stress, about it. Gantu is a bit of a tyrant- always uptight and always raring to please the hamster, so 625 found he didn't hold much respect for the Shaelek. He even found the large alien's fear of the rodent amusing; this giant could face off with experiment after experiment without flinching, threaten 625 who Gantu _knew_ possessed all the same powers as 626 without a hint of fear, and take hit after hit with hardly a wince, yet the moment that displeased rodent appeared on the screen Gantu was a mess.

"So," 625 starts between bites, "how ya' gonna explain this one to the rodent?"

"Shut up, 625," Gantu growls, not pausing in his pacing.

"I mean ya really blew it this time, fishface," 625 laughs a bit, scrutinizing his sandwich. "To think, if ya landed just two inches to the right ya would've won."

"I said _shut up,_ 625!"

625 doesn't flinch, swallowing down the rest of his sandwich in one bite. "Seems it's true when they say the good guys always win."

Gantu stops at his words, and 625 watches him carefully. Watches for any signs that he was about to turn that stress into anger, about to (attempt to) take it out on 625 himself.

But the Shaelek doesn't even look at him.

"You see everything in black and white, don't you?" Gantu mutters, turning to the screen. 625 raises a brow.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He never got an answer, as Hamsterviel's face appeared on the screen, looking angry.

"You failed again, you stupid fishbrain!"

625 watches as Gantu throws aside all shame and self respect. "I'll do better next time," he promises, his words as empty to 625 as they were to Hamsterviel. "I'll make up for this, just- don't-"

"You know the consequences for failure!" the rodent interrupts, leaving the yellow experiment curious to what Gantu was about to say.

"No, don't-" Gantu starts, but the screen goes black and Gantu slams his fist against the console. 625 watches, noting this.

He always did wonder why Gantu worked for Hamsterviel, all the while claiming to be good himself. Whatever it was that Gantu was trying to say, 625 thinks, has something to do with it.

"Don't what?" he probes, eyeing his partner in crime, but Gantu doesn't answer him. Instead he stalks away without a word, retreating to his room to sulk.

625 watches, as he always does, always did. He watches, thoughtlessly making another sandwich as he considers all of the factors involved.

Gantu, so far as 625 knew, was in this job for the money. To pay the bills. Yet the humans, locals and tourists alike, seemed to be either stupid or blind- Gantu often works off of their own biases to fit in, the few times he's had to venture into the town, and everyone just assumes 625 is a dog, as they often do 625's younger counterpart.

Theoretically, he thinks as he looks down at his sandwich, Gantu could earn money in some other way. It would certainly beat having to transfer the funds sent by Hamsterviel through ten different banks across the galaxy just to get the meagre Earth equivalent.

 _So if money's not the answer,_ he wonders, _what is?_

He sits there in silence, quietly debating with his sandwich.

Gantu doesn't come back out the rest of the night.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Life happened, sorry!

* * *

"I _don't need_ you. _Just- go be useless somewhere else, 625!"_

Wherever the little trog was, Gantu doesn't care. He clearly isn't here. Gantu came back, empty handed as he usually did, to find his ship empty. 625 is nowhere to be seen, and Gantu falls heavily into his seat.

The stress of a year, a year of knowing that monstrous gerbil had his daughter- not knowing what was happening to her every time he reports failure- falls heavily on his shoulders. He is about to crack, he can feel it, and the argument with 625 that morning was not a pretty one.

Though they never are. Gantu doesn't like to fight with the one person he can almost consider a friend- almost. 625 was too apathetic, too sarcastic- too manipulative, if Gantu was willing to admit even to himself. He can't bring himself to trust 625 with the truth.

" _Why do ya even listen to the rodent? Ya don't even like him! Come on, G-man, if this is about the money ya could do better. Ya don't need him."_

And Gantu knows, deep down, that 625 means well. As far as 625 knows, this is a matter of paying the bills. Gantu and 625- there was a number of things they can do, and it would be more beneficial than what Hamsterviel gave them. No, Gantu doesn't need Hamsterviel.

But he needs Janaa.

625 doesn't know about Janaa. Gantu knows he should not have directed his stress, his anger, his fear-fueled rage at 625.

He should have done something differently.

But he didn't, and now he sits alone in the echoing quiet of his ship, knowing any moment Hamsterviel would call. Knowing that his Janaa was about to suffer, all because her dad couldn't save her a second time.

 _You were supposed to keep her safe,_ he thinks bitterly, unsure if he is directing it at his sister, the Councilwoman or even himself.

The screen lights up, Hamsterviel's scowl the first thing that registers in Gantu's mind.

"So," the rodent begins, staring displeased at Gantu, "I see you have failed again."

"The girl and the trog had friends this time," he tries to defend, though he knows it's all in vain. Hamsterviel has never accepted his excuses before, after all.

"Where is experiment 625?" Hamsterviel questions, peering through the screen with suspiciously-squinted eyes.

Gantu tenses up. "Not here," he answers simply, a nervous tightening in his chest. A terrible, foreboding feeling washes over him, and then Hamsterviel's scowl turns into a bloodchilling grin.

He laughs.

"Finally!" The rodent rubs his tiny hands together in glee. "Finally, without that intrusive little nuisance I can show you what happens when you fail me!"

His heart skips a beat.

Hamsterviel never lets him see Janaa, not since revealing that he has her. Never makes Gantu watch whatever she was going through.

Why, he wonders, does 625's absence make a difference?

Was Hamsterviel so afraid of losing his trump card that he doesn't want anyone else to know?

Was Gantu really so predictable that Hamsterviel knows he never told 625 about Janaa?

Is Hamsterviel afraid of 625?

The camera jerks to the side as Hamsterviel points it towards Gantu's little girl, and his heart breaks at the sight of her.

Third eye wide open, malnourished, gleaming copper fur dulled with dust and bruises, long ears hanging limply behind her- the fur tufts on the end patchy at best- and her tail curled around herself as she sat there, a shadow of the happy child Gantu had left behind.

She looks as she did nearly five years ago, when he rescued her from the slavers. Only now she's older and has known another life, a happier life, and the fear in her eyes is so much more than back then- filled with much more understanding.

"Janaa," he almost whispers, fear hammering in his chest. He reaches out, as if he could reach across the vast expanse of lightyears separating them to hold her again, but his fingers touch the cold screen instead of soft fur, and he can barely remember what it feels like to hug her.

She looks back at him. "Dad," she says, her voice cracking and so full of fear and pleading, and tears well up in her eyes. "D-dad...!"

Gantu hears Hamsterviel laugh, and the cell around Janaa lights up. She screams- of course she screams, she was only seven when Gantu left her with his sister- and Gantu is seized with horror- terror- disgust- anger-

"Stop!" He isn't sure if he screams or thinks it. "She's just a child! You're hurting her! Janaa!"

He's standing, leaning heavily on the console with one hand on the screen. There's a desperation coiling in his abdomen, and he tries to plead, because now he isn't ex-captain Gantu but _dad,_ a dad watching the child he swore to protect suffer for his own failings.

 _Monster!_

When the electricity cuts out, leaving the child nearly unconscious in the cell, Hamsterviel cackles. "Now you know what is at stake," the rodent says as he pulls the camera back to him, and Gantu feels such murderous hatred for the villain. He clenches his fists, wanting nothing more than to strangle the monster gerbil, but Hamsterviel either doesn't notice or doesn't care. "I expect no more failures from you, Gantu."

"I'll _kill_ you," Gantu growls, glaring at the rodent. Hamsterviel is nonplussed, simply chuckling at Gantu's words.

"You can't even catch a pesky experiment, how are you to _kill_ me?" he taunts. "Remember, Gantu; no more failures, or else."

The screen cuts out and Gantu can feel himself trembling in rage, the metal beneath his fists denting. He wants to scream. He wants to break something.

He can't understand how anyone could be so bad, so full of evil that they were willing to torture a child.

 _I'm sorry, Janaa,_ he thinks, resting his head against his hands. _Why am I never able to keep my promises to you?_

All he wants is to hold her again. To watch her play with her toys, watch her put on a one-child play for him- to laugh and tell her what a good job she's done, even if her acting skills were just as bad as Gantu's singing. All he wants is for her to be safe.

But he was a failure. A failure as a henchman, a friend, and a father.

"Gantu...?"


End file.
